50% of Southampton house sellers in 2022 had only been in their old home on average 4 years and 33 weeks

 

The share of Brits moving each year has been declining since the late 1980s (when at one stage, people moved every eight years), yet since the pandemic's beginning, something has appeared to upset that trend.

Newspaper stories and social media posts painted a picture of homeowners moving from the city centres to its suburbs, from the suburbs to the towns and countryside around the UK. Areas like the Cotswolds and coastal towns around the country got swamped by the 'race for space', significantly affecting housing markets (including Southampton).

But how many Brits moved? And how long had they been in their homes before they moved?

In Great Britain, there are 28.3 million households, of which 19.3 million are owner-occupied and 4.43m owned by private buy-to-let landlords.

 

There is £7,035 trillion of residential property in private hands.

Eight years before the initial lockdown in 2020, an average of 79,646 properties were sold each month in the UK, meaning just under a million UK households move home annually.

 

Therefore, in those 8 years, the average British homeowner moved every 20 years and 4 months.

So, what uplift was there in people moving home after the first lockdown in 2020?

In 2021 and early 2022, an average of 102,021 people moved home monthly, taking the average move time to once every 16 years. So even though there was an uplift in people moving home, it was nothing like the 1980s.

It shows that in the 21^st Century, once you have succeeded in buying a property you can call home, there isn't much enthusiasm to move again.

 

What is happening in the Southampton property market now?

We love our homes in Southampton, but most of us (including myself) still want to 'better our lives' with a larger house, better area etc., which typically requires us to climb up the Southampton property ladder.

 

Yet, with Southampton house prices having risen by 378.1% in the last 25 years, the cost of going up the next rung on the Southampton property ladder has become prohibitive.

Everyone remembers back to the 1980s, when we had an upbeat booming property market as a backdrop, and British homeowners moved home every eight years; so now, with the average move time in the mid to late teens (in years), this equates to each homeowner only moving around three to four times in their adult lifetime.

Or could it be something else?

 

We all know the phrase, “lies, damn lies and statistics".

The home moving statistics above hide some great details about the British property market.

When British homeowners get into their 50s, 60s and beyond, their inclination to move home drops like the proverbial stone.

The average time a homeowner without a mortgage moves home is 24 years and 27 weeks (and just over 7 out of 10 outright homeowners, i.e. without a mortgage, are 65 or older). 

Homeowners with a mortgage tend to be younger to middle-aged.

 

Homeowners with a mortgage move on average every 10 years and 11 weeks.

So, whilst I cannot determine which house seller has a mortgage and which doesn't, I can look at how quickly people move home in Southampton. 

Therefore, I have taken a look at the last 50 property sales in Southampton and found some interesting results.

 

The average Southampton homeowner had only been in their home on average 12 years and 9 weeks before they sold.

 

Yet the devil is in the detail.

There appears to be a two-speed Southampton property market …

 

50% of Southampton house sellers in 2022 had only been in their old home on average 4 years and 33 weeks.

 

Then, let's split the findings into quarters.

·      

When looking at the properties that fall into the slower time bands (i.e., the ones that don’t move/sell so often), they tend to be the larger properties where the homeowners have lived often for 30 or 40 years.

Maybe, the one lesson from these statistics is that once homeowners get into their 60’s and 70’s, their tendency and inclination to move home declines significantly.

This means the homes on the lower rungs of the Southampton property ladder are selling quickly (as younger aged homeowners occupy them) ... yet once Southampton people tend to get older, their tendency to move diminishes.

This obstructs the younger generation of Southampton homeowners from wanting to buy the bigger Southampton properties these mature Southampton homeowners live in.

What is holding the older generation back from selling and downsizing to free up family homes for families that desperately need them? Some will be apathy, and some will be wanting to hold on to the homes they brought their families up in, yet the bottom line is …

 

as a country, we must reconsider how we can encourage (not force) older homeowners to sell their large homes to release them to the younger families that desperately need them.

Some recent articles I have written suggested tax breaks, yet the government doesn't have the money to give massive tax breaks.

One thing I do know we, as a country, have seen (and will continue to see) a lot of demographic change together with an increasingly ageing population, so it’s not just about how many households we build but whether we are constructing the right kind of homes for the older generation?

Thought-provoking times are ahead for the Southampton property market!

If you have a Southampton property to sell in the coming months or years and want to know how this and other factors will affect you and your property ... without obligation, don't hesitate to call me.

Southampton Property Market Holding up Despite Doom and Gloom in the Newspapers

The Southampton housing market over the last three months is now becoming more ‘normal’ after the last couple of years of insane demand when the lockdowns started a race for space!

Even with the blackening economic doom-mongers forecasting a harsh slowdown in the British property market, the number of people buying and selling their homes is still very good for the time of year.

Whilst many homeowners are reducing their asking prices, it is not the 20% (some even said 30%) drop some property commentators and newspaper journalists had predicted.

Looking at the stats for Southampton for the last three months since the disastrous Truss mini budget – they make good reading.

Of the 943 Southampton properties that have sold (stc) since late September, the average length of time it took to achieve a sale was 42 days.

Interesting when you split it down by price, in Southampton:

·        Under £100k – 102 days

·        £100k to £200k – 54 days

·        £200k to £300k – 34 days

·        £300k to £400k – 41 days

·        £400k to £500k – 44 days

·        £500k to £1m – 55 days

·        £1m and above – 98 days

And by type:

·        Southampton Apartment/Flat – 54 days

·        Southampton Terraced/Townhouse – 34 days

·        Southampton Semi-Detached – 35 days

·        Southampton Detached – 45 days

 

The latest sold price data from the Land Registry shows that Southampton house prices currently remain 11.4% higher than they were 12 months ago; the rate of growth has dropped significantly.

Last month, Southampton house prices only rose by 1.2%; thus we are seeing the first sign that the property market is starting to cool.

With interest rates at 3.5% and further increases likely in 2023, that will undoubtedly spur ongoing cooling in Southampton property values yet it’s doubtful we will see the Southampton property market go into the deep freeze that many doom-mongers were predicting.

As I said in recent articles on the Southampton property market, we will see a 5% to 10% reduction in Southampton house prices over the next 12 to 18 months.

That will only take us back to the prices achieved in mid/late 2021 or early 2022 (depending on the property type).

Landlords have experienced double-digit rent growth in the last 12/18 months with a shortage of rental properties coming onto the market. I cannot see this changing in the short term, so I expect rents to be a further 10% higher by Christmas 2023.

Last week I stated it is not always wise to only focus on house prices but also take reference from the number of property transactions completed that feeds the fire of the British property market.

 

For example, in March 2021, 135,670 properties sold, yet a month later, it dropped to 87,600. A couple of months later, it rose again in June 2021 to 165,290 homes sold (for it to drop to 64,000 in July).

Whilst this is good news for estate agents and removals companies, it can skew the property market and put undue pressure on the property market (pressure which could cause a housing crash if not put under check).

Like most things, slow, steady and consistent is the preferred option for the property market. Throughout 2022, the number of properties selling in the UK has been a steady average of 68,832 per month, ranging from a low of 61,800 in January 2022 to 72,200 in July 2022.

 

This consistency will continue into 2023 and a return to a more 'normal' housing market.

One final thing I have noticed about the Southampton property market in the last six months is the number of larger properties coming onto the market that last sold over 25 years ago.

Homeowners in their 20s, 30s and early 40s tend to move every five or six years, yet when they reach their late 40s and 50s, they tend to stay put for longer. These properties only tend to come on the market when people pass away or must be sold for nursing home fees.

These mature homeowners are downsizing for several reasons. Their children have flown the nest and they are rattling around in homes with accommodation they don’t need. Many are being driven to sell their large homes in light of mounting energy bills, high inflation and never-ending maintenance costs that larger properties demand.

The second reason is that the recent rises in Southampton house prices has meant the money released to downsize has grown, meaning if these mature homeowners sell up and cash in to more manageable properties, the amount of money released is quite impressive.

In conclusion, 2023 is going to be a more 'normal' year, akin to the 2016 to 2019 years. Southampton homeowners need to be realistic with their pricing, yet as over eight out of ten sellers buy another home, the one you buy will be lower.

If you are considering selling your Southampton home in 2023 and would like a chat about your options, feel free to drop me a line or call the office.

What Will Happen to the Southampton Property Market in 2023?

The autumn of 2022 saw economic and political instability with the resignation of Boris Johnson as Prime Minister and the ill-fated Liz Truss 44-day premiership. Now as we go into 2023, the economic and political turmoil has subdued, offering a greater feeling of stability in money markets.

So, on the back of that, what is the expectation for the British (and Southampton) housing market as we go into the new year?

The biggest issue is inflation. Low steady inflation of around 2% a year is good for the economy, yet the high levels we are experiencing now isn’t. It affects the spending power of the pound in your pocket, and it alters the way people spend their money (including buying and selling property).

So where has this inflation come from?

Many blame it on inflated gas prices because of the Ukraine issue (however, it is believed by most economists only around 4% of the current 10.7% inflation figure is because of the fuel crisis).

UK inflation was already running at 6.2% when the Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine in February 2022 which created that energy price shock. Therefore, where has the rest of the inflation come from?

The catalyst of inflation started in 2020 with the Bank of England’s Quantitative Easing (QE). This pumped £450m new money into the economy at a time when the future looked bleak. The problem was, people had nothing to spend that money on, so when things started to get going after the lockdowns, there was a mis-match of too much demand for goods (as people had that money) and a lack of goods and services (because there wasn’t enough supply of those goods and services with the supply chain issues).

This all meant prices went up (i.e., inflation). The catalyst of this inflation was the Bank of England printed too much money in 2020 with QE and the supply chain issues (all easy to say with hindsight!).

 

Too much inflation is bad for the economy and therefore, ultimately the property market.

 

Two things will reduce inflation.

One is a recession and the other is increased interest rates.

Many find it fascinating that the Bank of England were talking the UK economy into a shallow recession in the autumn. Yet there was method in their madness. It was because they didn’t want to rely solely on the second method of increasing interest rates.

Better for the economy to have a shallow mild recession and interest rates rising to say 4.5% by the middle of 2023 to reduce inflation, than placing the whole job of reducing inflation on interest rates.

If that had been the case, interest rates would need to rise to say 7% (or more), causing the economy (and property market) to stall ... and thus create a subsequent deep and long recession.

Therefore, with the Bank of England having recently increased its base rate to 3.5%, with more interest rate rises to come in 2023, what does this and the mild recession mean for the Southampton property market?

A recession will increase unemployment levels, which have been comparatively low in the last few years. Depending on the type of roles/jobs that are made redundant, will determine the effect on the property market. Until that happens, we won’t know.

Everyone is suffering from higher gas, electric and shopping bills, yet with interest rates rising, this will increase the pressure on household budgets. Higher interest rates mean higher mortgage payments if the homeowner/landlord is on a variable rate mortgage (17 out of 20 homeowners with a mortgage are on a fixed rate).

 

It’s these two factors of recession and interest rates that will place negative pressure on Southampton house prices.

 

Yet let us not forget this pressure is coming off the back of two of the strongest years on record in terms of house prices and transaction levels.

 

Southampton house prices have experienced 22.1% price growth since the pandemic started in March 2020.

 

This is interesting when compared to the UK average, where average house prices have risen by 27.4% or £44,700 since March 2020.

Before I tackle the issue of house prices in 2023, I would like to look at the number of transactions.

To many the number of properties selling is irrelevant, yet I believe it is as important, if not more important, than house prices. I believe the best way to judge the health of the Southampton property market is the number of people moving home (i.e., housing transactions).

 

You could ask yourself why Southampton people should be more concerned about the number of property transactions and not the change in Southampton property values.

 

Many economists believe the number of property transactions is a better judge of the health and virality of a housing market. The higher the number of people moving home is better for the whole economy than a smaller number of property transactions, whilst the same can’t be said for higher house prices.

Transactions levels have been quite high in the last couple of years.

 

3,725 households per year have moved home in Southampton since lockdown, compared to the long-term 27-year average of 3,132 per year.

 

Looking at the stats coming through in the last couple of months, maybe we will settle for a figure somewhere between the two figures above, yet nowhere near the sub-2,500 annual figure of homeowners moving in the Credit Crunch years in the 2008/9/10 time frame.

Finally, let’s look at Southampton house prices in 2023.

A good place to start to judge house prices is how many reductions are taking place on the properties that are already on the market.

 

In the last 3 years, the average number of price reductions for the properties for sale in the Southampton area (SO14 to SO19) has been 160 reductions per month.

 

In October there were 310 price reductions and in November 296 reductions.

 

Homeowners are being more realistic with their pricing and the price that one will achieve for their Southampton home today and the rest of 2023 will be lower than one would have achieved in the spring of 2022.

Yet, as most Southampton people buy another property when they sell (and most of the time move up market) the price you would have had to pay on the next purchase would have been even more.

 

Yes, the price of Southampton property will be lower in 2023 by between 5% to 10%, yet these are only levels that were being achieved in the spring of 2022 – and nobody was complaining about those!

 

Final thoughts.

Several economic commentators are preaching doom and gloom for the property market in 2023, yet things are very different than the Credit Crunch years of 2008/9.

The property market crashed in 2008/9 mainly because the banks and building societies stopped lending money i.e., credit (that is why it was called the Credit Crunch).

There are two large differences this time round.

The first is the introduction of Mortgage Market Review mortgage stress testing instigated in 2014.

Homebuyers taking out a mortgage must have undergone a stress test on interest rates to obtain a mortgage since 2014. These stress tests are a safeguard to ensure that if their household income continued to be the same, the homeowner could afford higher mortgage rates.

The second is the banks and building societies have much higher cash reserves. Higher reserves will ensure they can continue to lend money and so more mortgages are available, although at a slightly higher interest rate than a year ago.

With mortgage rates falling back, with some very attractive fixed-rate deals knocking on the door of 5%, this is a development that may continue into 2023 as banks and building societies obtain cheaper funding sources and then compete for business by driving down the price of mortgages - which would only be good news for the Southampton property market.

These are my thoughts - what are yours?

55% more Southampton homes are on the market today than a year ago

 

More Southampton homes are now coming up for sale.

This is excellent news for Southampton homebuyers and Southampton landlords because as properties are no longer flying off the shelf as they did last year, the number of properties available to buy is beginning to return to long-term averages.

This means there is greater choice for Southampton buyers and this will reduce the pressure on Southampton house prices and return us to a more normal Southampton housing market for buyers (and sellers).

 

The average UK estate agency now has 25 homes for sale, the highest level of properties on the market since December 2021

(when it was 21 homes for sale). 

 

However, properties per estate agency brand is not the best judge of the property market.

Let’s look at the actual Southampton stats, which tell a slightly different story.

·         Southampton Detached Homes – Dec 2021, 122 available and today, 286 available – a rise of 134%

·         Southampton Semi-Detached Homes – Dec 2021, 124 available and today, 293 available – a rise of 136%

·         Southampton Terraced/Town Houses – Dec 2021, 67 available and today, 164 available – a rise of 145%

·         Southampton Apartments – Dec 2021, 554 available and today, 637 available – a rise of 15%

 

Overall, an increase of 55% - year on year.

(The data for Southampton is calculated by looking at all properties and plots for sale within a 4-mile radius of the centre of Southampton).

This growth in properties for sale has been seen across all areas of the British Isles. This is important because when there is a more significant availability of homes for sale, this diminishes the increasing pressure on house prices.

So how does a low number of properties for sale make such a huge difference?

Coming into the early spring of 2022, the levels of properties for sale were low (as seen from the low December 2021 stats above). It was ‘Hobson's choice’ for buyers, so they had to pay top dollar to secure their Southampton home.

 

The value of Southampton properties that had gone sale agreed in the early spring of 2022 (and completed their sale in September 2022) is 10.9% higher than those Southampton properties that had gone sale agreed in the spring of 2021.

 

The number of properties estate agents have to offer buyers is increasing; this will boost the choice for Southampton buyers, meaning we will move into a more balanced Southampton housing market. 

Nevertheless, it's vital that Southampton sellers place their properties, when they go onto the market, in line with what Southampton homebuyers are prepared to pay, given the current hit to their buying power initiated by higher interest rates.

 

Southampton house prices are not expected to crash in 2023,

however they will be lower than in 2022.

If you are buying and selling in the same property market, it doesn't matter what happens to property prices.

Also, some might say waiting for Southampton house prices to drop will enable them to grab a bargain.

Well, sorry to 'rain on your parade’, but you should read my recent article that discusses what would happen if Southampton first-time buyers waited for Southampton house prices to drop. If they waited, because interest rates are rising, the extra mortgage payments would cost them a lot more than the savings made on the purchase price. (Send me a message if you want a copy of it).

What has an effect on the value of your Southampton home is the number of properties for sale at any one time compared to the number of buyers. When there is an over-supply of homes for sale, prices go down, and with reduced demand, house prices will go down. So how do the stock levels of properties for sale compare to the past?

If you recall at the start of the article, I stated the average UK estate agency had 25 properties on their books now. In 2018/9, that average was 36 properties for sale (and for added comparison, the long-term average, since records began in 2016, is 49 homes for sale).

As you can see, whilst stock levels have grown, we are a long way off the long-term average.

A great way to determine what will happen to the property market is by measuring that stock level (i.e. the number of properties for sale). Check once a month and see how many properties are for sale. Let me break that down for Southampton specifically and how you can judge the market from your sofa.

 

There are 1,441 properties and plots for sale in Southampton now. To give context, the long-term 16-year average is 1,897 properties and plots for sale, yet in the credit crunch of 2008, it reached 4,462 properties and plots for sale at one point.

I envisage some component of scarcity to persist in the Southampton property market, meaning whilst the house prices that were being achieved in the spring of 2022 won't be replicated in 2023, it also won't fall dramatically next year. 

The incentives and impetuses to move home have changed in the last six months and will continue to do so into 2023. 

As I have written before, there are a larger number of mature homeowners in their 60s and 70s downsizing to help with heating bills, whilst the desire for more space means younger families will continue to look for new homes to live in, in 2023. 

If younger 20-somethings can access the Bank of Mum and Dad for mortgage deposits, they will also carry on buying. This is especially true because double-digit rental inflation makes renting quite expensive compared to buying (even with the increased interest rates).

These are my thoughts on the Southampton property market this week. Do put in the comments (or send me a message) your thoughts on the matter discussed and any other property-related topic you want some advice and opinion on.

 

Thank you in advance ...

Southampton Property Market What will the stamp duty cuts and interest rate rises mean for Southampton homeowners and landlords?

 

Last week the Bank of England increased interest rates to 2.25% and they are expected to be 3.25% by early next year. This increase will make the monthly mortgage payments more expensive for first-time buyers, an issue dubbed by some as the 'property affordability crunch.'

It will also damage the household budgets of homeowners coming off their fixed-rate mortgages in the next 12 months.

So how many homeowners are coming off their fixed rates in the next year?

Of the 7.97 million homeowners with a mortgage in the UK, 6.1 million of them are on a fixed-rate mortgage at an average rate of 2.04%. Industry statistics indicate around 1.3 million homeowners are coming off their fixed rate in the next 12 months.

The current crop of fixed-rate mortgage deals available today have already had the recent increase in the base rate ‘priced-in’ for weeks.

The cheapest 5-year fixed-rate today for a 65% Loan to Value re-mortgage (i.e., you are borrowing 65% of the value of your home) is a mortgage rate of 3.8% with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

 

So, what will be the difference in mortgage payments between a 2.04% mortgage and a 3.8% mortgage?

 

Say an average Southampton first-time buyer bought their first home in November 2019 on a 25-year mortgage. They had a 3-year fixed-rate mortgage, and let's assume they fixed it at 2.04% (as mentioned above), meaning their fixed-rate deal finishes next month. They have £260,000 outstanding on their mortgage, and their Southampton house is worth £400,000. They would have been paying £1,107 per month for the last three years (assuming they took out a 25-year repayment mortgage).

On the RBS deal above, they will have to start paying £1,548 per month from November when they come off their initial rate – a rise of £441 per month in mortgage payments – almost a 40% increase! That’s quite a rise and potential blow to their household budgets.

Yet if they pushed back the repayment term from 22 years to, say, 35 years, that reduces the payment to £1,120 per month – something to consider if you are re-mortgaging in the coming 12 months.

 

What will the stamp duty changes mean for

Southampton property owners?

 

PM Liz Truss and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng believe that cutting stamp duty will support economic growth by encouraging more people to move home or jump onto the property ladder.

Stamp duty also has other harmful side effects as it decreases labour market elasticity and curtails people from selling up and buying elsewhere, where the jobs are.

Also, stamp duty makes mature homeowners stay put in their large homes rather than downsizing. This reduction in stamp duty will encourage those mature homeowners to move, thus freeing up their large family homes for the younger families that need them.

 

The Chancellor doubled the zero-rate stamp duty band from £125,000 to £250,000, passing a stamp duty tax saving of up to £2,500 for all English homebuyers.

 

Also, tax savings are even more significant for first-time buyers, particularly in areas with high house prices, such as London and the South East. They can save a maximum of £11,250 in stamp duty – with a new zero-rate band of £425,000, based on a higher £625,000 spend cap (i.e., the house they buy can't be over £625,000 for them to qualify for the tax relief).

So, what effect will these stamp duty changes have on the Southampton property market? Looking at recent events in the local property market is the best place to start.

 

Of the 7,399 transactions in the Southampton area since June 2021, 2,987 were below £250,000. These would now be tax-free!

 

Unsurprisingly, most housing transactions in Southampton were above the £250,000 threshold, yet irrespective of that point, it’s a saving of up to £2,500 for all future Southampton homebuyers.

Anyone currently buying a house in Southampton and not yet completed on their purchase (completion is when you have paid the money for your home and collected the keys) will be in line to make this saving.

Southampton landlords purchasing buy-to-let properties will also save money with the stamp duty cut (but they will still be liable for their second home stamp duty levy of 3%).

Overall, this is a welcome move to help the Southampton property market.

 

Yet will the stamp duty threshold rise have the seismic effect that the Rishi Sunak stamp duty holiday did in 2021, where just under 40% more people moved home than the long-term 30-year average?

 

I am sure the stamp duty cut will somewhat offset the rising costs in mortgage rates mentioned in this article and cushion the blow to the property market.

A blow to what you might ask?

Well, many people judge the property market's health by house prices.

 

The average value of a Southampton property stands at £340,869 and has risen 15.6% in the last five years. Not bad, eh?

 

But I believe there is a better way to judge the health of the local property market, and that is the number of people moving home (i.e., housing transactions).

You might be asking yourself why we should be more concerned about the number of property transactions and not the change in property values.

Many economists believe the number of property transactions is a far more accurate bellwether for the health and potency of the local housing market. A greater number of people moving home is better for the whole economy (i.e., what these changes are being made for) than a smaller number of transactions, whilst the same can’t be said for higher house prices. 

So, what is going to happen to Southampton house prices?

 

I believe the growth in Southampton house prices achieved in 2021/22 is not sustainable into 2023.

In conjunction with the price cap on energy bills, the stamp duty change, the reversal of the rise in National Insurance and the drop in Income Tax will mitigate house price drops. Yet, I foresee a ‘slight’ realignment in the house prices being achieved in 2023, compared to 2022.

The more significant impact these changes will have is the number of people moving home in the next 12 months.

I have been forecasting a 15% to 20% year-on-year drop in Southampton property transactions in 2023. Following this stamp duty cut and the measures mentioned above, I believe it will be lower, maybe around 5% lower.

 

To conclude, I predict we will have slightly lower house prices and fewer people moving home in Southampton, but not in any way a crash that many thought was on the horizon.

 

Before I go though, let me share some thoughts on whether stamp duty is a fair tax.

Now, this is almost a topic for a standalone article itself. Some economists believe that removing stamp duty (which raised £14.1bn in tax in 2021) and replacing that lost income to the Exchequer by increasing council tax on more expensive properties would do a lot more than other intended tax cuts to boost economic growth.

According to some commentators, the way UK Government taxes housing is flawed. They suggest instead of taxing an infrequent property transaction particularly harshly (the average stamp duty bill is £10,600), the Government should tax living in a house more, especially those who live in the higher priced properties.

So let us see how viable that could be…

Even if council tax was frozen for bands A to D (the lower priced properties), and the uplift between the more expensive council tax bands was doubled on each step between band D and H (so a typical band E property owner would see their council tax rise from £2,473 to £3,628 per year and a typical Band H see a rise of from £3,435 per year to £5,790 per year), such massive increases in council tax would be political suicide for the wealthy Tory voting homeowners and only raise £5.28bn – a long way from the £14.1bn currently raised.

Now, if the £14.1bn tax raise were spread evenly over all council tax bands, the average band D property would need to rise by £490 per year, and even a band A would increase by an extra £382 a year … something that again would be political suicide.

Yes, stamp duty is flawed. It's just every other option has more significant flaws.

Anyway, these are just my thoughts. Tell me, people of Southampton, what are your thoughts on the Budget, the stamp duty changes or whether stamp duty is fit for purpose and what you would do if you were the Chancellor to bolster the British property market?